


Bodyswap

by orphan_account



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Bodyswap, F/F, Silas U is weird, only a small amount of shipping - this is mostly friendship stuff, slight references to werewolf!Danny because I think it's kinda fun, very mild violence in one scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2788607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My fill for carmillaholidays</p>
<p>Prompt: The Alchemy club had another accident but instead of giant killer mushrooms people are switching bodies for 24hrs. No specific pairing, I want a more friendship focus where the girls bond - all the Brotps.</p>
<p>I hope you like this, LethargicWonder! Please forgive a small amount of shipping...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bodyswap

**Author's Note:**

> I started this before episode 30 came out when I thought LaF would have a little time being normal before creepy brain parasites took hold so it’s set in a sort of au (fun plotless filler ep au?) after episode 29 I guess. The time doesn’t matter too much though. (also AU where everyone uses LaF’s pronouns cause I can). 
> 
> (sorry for any mistakes with campus living, I really don't know how it works)

They’ve barely finished explaining to LaFontaine how they had been taken when that godawful door slammed open to reveal Will...looking very confused. Carmilla was on her feet in a defensive stance in front of Laura immediately but, weirdly, her pseudo-brother didn’t seem to be aggressive at all. In fact, he looks tired and worried more than anything.

 

“Hi Laura, Laura’s friends...creepy angry looking roommate girl.”

 

Laura’s mouth opens in a wide O of surprise.

 

“...Kirsch? Is that you?” Huh, he does seem to be acting like that hulking idiot, what the hell.

 

“Um, Laura, something weird is going on. I thought I should warn you and see if it was happening here too.”

 

Laura gets up, squeezing around Carmilla who, in her confusion, still hasn’t moved from her protective position. She takes Will/Kirsch’s hand gingerly and sits him down in her desk chair.

 

“Don’t touch him, it could be a trap!” Carmilla yells, too late to have been any help if he _was_ a threat. Luckily, he only slumps passively into the chair.

 

“Just...calm down and tell us what’s going on, okay.”

 

He gulps and looks around at the gang who all have various degrees of confusion on their faces. Perry, her arms still tight around LaFontaine, pulls them down onto Laura’s bed to sit down while he explains.

 

“Well...I woke up this morning on the wrong side of the room. On Will’s bed. And when I looked in the mirror I had Will’s face. And I’m talking with Will’s voice. I mean Will’s my bro, but dude,” for a moment he seems to zone out, staring at Laura, but not her face. Laura is used to him not looking at her face while he’s talking, but this time his eyes seem to be focussed a bit higher - her...neck? “Laura, you...you smell real good.”

 

Carmilla makes an angry sound and drags him bodily out of the room.

 

“I’ll be back once I’ve dealt with this overgrown _child_ ,” she yells over her shoulder.

 

Laura turns to Perry, who during Kirsch’s explanation has been examining LaFontaine for cuts and bruises.

 

“So what do you think was going on there?”

 

Perry’s hands move fussily, brushing LaF’s hair around, finding a bruise on their forehead and applying numbing cream from her first aid kit. “I-I’m sorry, I was distracted I didn’t hear anything, I mustn’t have heard that right, excuse me LaFontaine is hurt.”

 

LaF gives a long-suffering smirk and eye roll and turns to Laura.

 

“Don’t mind her, I think she’s hit her weird limit for today. The alchemy club are doing lots of brain-based experiments lately, so I guess it must be another accident? They really need to get themselves under control, huh. Just be glad it didn’t happen to us.”

 

Laura agrees, and after they’re gone she resumes her search for answers, aided by J.P. The search only proves to gain her more confusion and she drops into her bed with a groan before Carmilla returns.

 

***

 

She slips into the room silently, having tied Will’s body to his bed, hoping that now his roommate knew about his vampirism he’d leave him there when/if they swapped back, but not too optimistic. Carmilla had dallied a while before returning to the room, unable to stop replaying the embarrassing scene where she had been too slow to protect Laura from the potential danger. Even though nothing came of it, what would she be like when there is real danger? She stays up with the book and her worries until 4am, Laura’s anxious face in the forefront of her mind, hoping she can find something to help her (farther back, hidden, is Elle’s face, so similar, could she really be alive in there?). What feels like seconds after she lies down, head resting on Laura’s yellow pillow, she wakes up to morning light.

 

On the other side of the room.

 

***

 

She quickly realises why she’s woken up, seeing Perry panting, having obviously run all the way to the dorm.

 

“Ugh not again,” Carmilla groans, curling back into the bed after having decided there’s no serious danger. “What, did you realise you hadn’t cleaned the doorkno- hey this is the wrong pillow.”

 

Carmilla sits up and faces Perry just as she starts yelling.

 

“I’m not Perry, Carmilla! I’m Laura and you’re in my body and Perry’s stupid alarm woke me up at 5a.m. and I need to get back to being myself. On the way here, five different girls tried to ask me for advice, and one of them looked like her face had been swapped with a wolf’s.”

There is a groan from the other side of the room and Carmilla turns to face...herself.

 

“Oh god, I feel _awful_. I usually feel bad the morning after but  today I feel like _death_.” Carmilla’s body is grumbling into the pillow. After a bit more rolling, she seems to start to actually wake up and squints out from under her (messy, Carmilla is horrified to see - whoever this is is destroying her reputation of sliding out of bed flawless) hair. And, of course, immediately freaks out.

 

“Laura?! What are _you_ doing here?” she pauses, looks around, “What am _I_ doing here?” She runs her hands through her hair and Carmilla’s skin goes even paler than usual. “Who _am_ I?”

 

Carmilla finds it incredibly amusing to see Laura’s nervous awkward smile on Perry’s face. “Danny! Uh, haha, this is awkward. Um, see, I think we’ve swapped bodies. I’m not Perry, by the way, I’m Laura! And it’s Carmilla in my body. See, yesterday Kirsch came into our dorm and…”

 

Carmilla zones out while Laura recaps, her thoughts taken up with a sick glee. Danny - tall, loud, angry, weird-smelling Danny - is stuck in her body. While it certainly has its perks, day to day life as a vampire sucks ass. She feels a familiar kind of schadenfreude as she watches Danny wincing and scrubbing her eyes as she tries in vain to get accustomed to a centuries-old bloodthirsty body.

 

Which leads her to thinking...she just happens to be in the body of her very cute crush. She wonders if she could casually…

 

“Carmilla! Are you looking down my shirt!?”

 

“Relax, cutie, I’m gonna have to shower in this body at _some_ point,”

 

Laura looks shocked in a way that suits Perry’s face much better, “Nononono you are NOT. You are going to stay there in my pyjamas until we find out how to cure this and - GET YOUR HAND OFF MY BOOB!”

 

Laura launches herself directly at Carmilla, grabbing her wrist and pinning it above her head with manic fury. Why was Laura so good at being accidentally hot...and why did she have to be in the body of _Perry_. There’s retching noises coming from the other side of the room...and a bang followed by “OW” from the doorway.

 

Laura sits bolt upright (still straddling Carmilla, who is beginning to blush and already having a fully functional heart is losing its charm) to see Danny(‘s body) with twigs in her hair rubbing a bruise on her forehead...a bruise that looks too big to have just been from then.

 

LaFontaine’s face peeks out from behind the beanpole, a hand on her arm.

 

“Su - LaFontaine has been doing this all morning.” LaFontaine’s hands reach up, trying to inspect the bruising on Danny’s forehead - and not reaching, “Bend down, let me look at that.”

 

Danny grins and the facial expression is so similar it’s blindingly obvious that LaF’s in her body.

 

“You know how you always think it’d be so cool to be tall? It fucking sucks I am in so much pain right now. Being clumsy is ten times worse when your appendages are longer.” They manage to fold their borrowed body into a desk chair with minimal bumping things and Perry, whose worried expression looks incredibly out of place on the body of someone so easygoing, resumes her helicopter-mother ministrations. LaFontaine rolls their eyes. “I had to practically drag her here, she was so excited for a chance to clean my room.”

 

Laura has gotten up by now and is pulling left over brownies (there’s two full trays in the fridge, when Perry bakes she really bakes) on to a plate and immediately in to her mouth. If there’s one thing Carmilla has learnt about Laura in her time as her roommate, it’s that she is a stress eater. She sits down on the edge of her bed with the loot and Carmilla steals one off her plate. Oh, fuck, food tastes better when you’re alive.

 

“So.” LaFontaine looks at them from beneath Perry’s hands rubbing numbing cream on to her bruises, “what are we gonna do about this?”

 

Carmilla grins with chocolate-stained lips. “There’s no hurry is there? Lets just enjoy this for a while.”

 

LaFontaine grimaces. “While I’m sure it’s nice to have blood that isn’t secondhand running through your veins, I kinda like my own body. It’s not just being a giantess, I won’t even comment on where I woke up this morning.”

 

The pile of blankets on Carmilla’s bed groans. “Ugh, why did this have to happen the night after a full moon.”

 

“Oh, there you are Danny.” Perry has finished with LaFontaine’s forehead and is tidying the computer desk compulsively.

 

“Yeah. I have not woken up from this nightmare yet, so I guess we just have to fix it. Ugh, why did I have to get _this_ body?” She shoves off the blankets and sits up, and Carmilla dies a little inside looking at her awful bed-hair and rumpled clothes. “Didn’t you say this happened to Kirsch yesterday? We should find him.”

 

“I hate to admit it, but she’s right. He should still be in his room so let’s get going.”

 

Danny stands up immediately and heads for the door, a girl on a mission.

 

“Wait!” Carmilla calls, and Danny turns as she grabs a hairbrush from her side of the desk. “At least brush your hair, I can’t be seen like that.”

 

Danny glares at her through her own eyes, takes the brush, grabs the bottom of her long hair and drags the brush backwards up towards her scalp, turning the already messy locks into a sort of tangled bird’s nest on top of her head. Then she slams the door open and walks out. Carmilla runs after her, still in pyjamas and far too conscious of that. She prays for it to still be too early for people to be out, but there are a few wandering the halls even at 8a.m. on a Friday. She hears the rest of the room following her as she tries to keep up with Danny’s angry stride. At least her legs are shorter now, so it’s actually possible.

 

Behind her she hears Perry whispering to Laura and shares a snicker and a look with LaFontaine.

 

“Laura, do you think you could maybe not eat quite so many brownies? Chocolate is a sometimes food, and I’ve been doing a bit of a fitness regime lately. I mean, we should be back in our own bodies soon, I’m sure we’ll sort this out in no time. Could you just be careful with mine?”

 

Perry’s eyes were so honest and pleading that all Laura could do was mumble “Sorry Perry” while licking the last of her (final) brownie from her fingers.

 

Carmilla had been so distracted by the amusing scene that she barely registers the black shape flicking across her line of sight before she hears the sound of her own body smacking into the wall of the corridor. Danny is pressed up against the wall by Will, who looks incredibly pissed off.

 

“What the fuck kind of joke was that, Kitty? You know you might have had a chance. Maybe you could have come back to us after your latest obsession had died, you could have reformed with only a little punishment. But you think you’re playing some kind of game now? Stop fucking with me, I’m more than you know how to deal with.”

 

Danny growls, and while it’s a weird sound to come out of a vampire’s mouth, it definitely sounds threatening.

 

“Ok douchebag. First, I’m not Carmilla. The same bullshit that happened to you yesterday has happened to us. And while I really don’t give a crap about that vampire trashheap whose body I’m stuck in, I do _not_ appreciate you attacking me like this.” She grabs his arm and rips it away from where it has been gripping her shoulder, all the latent strength that comes with being a centuries-old vampire unlocked with the pure rage that exists in Danny when her or someone close to her is wronged. Her anger is a whirlwind, and Carmilla doesn’t think her body has looked so _alive_ since…maybe since Elle. Using the fighting style that is signature to the Summer Society, she flips Will onto his back and holds her booted foot threateningly above his neck. “You picked the wrong day to mess with me, vampire-boy. Now go away and leave me and my friends alone.” She gives him a swift kick in the ass as he scrambles up, and Carmilla can’t help grinning at the mess she’s reduced her cocky pseudo-brother to. Her good mood is immediately ruined when she sees Laura’s blush.

 

“Wow, Danny, that was, really cool.” Laura stumbles over her words in that way that is so much cuter when she’s talking about Carmilla. Danny responds with only a grunt and Carmilla thanks her lucky stars that they’re still fighting over that stupid homework thing. Then she sees Laura’s face fall and her heart physically hurts. She tries and fails to convince herself it’s just a side effect of being human, but she’s felt this too many times to deny it.

 

They quickly resume the cross-campus walk to the Zeta Omega Mu frathouse, and Carmilla falls back to walk alongside Laura. Danny is of course striding ahead, and attached-at-the-hip Perry and LaFontaine are trailing after, Perry occasionally helping up students who have been swept aside in the whirlwind that is an angry Danny while LaF tries to drag her onwards.

 

Carmilla nudges Laura’s shoulder, and it’s not the same shoulder she’s used to, but the expression is all Laura. It is a mixture of pain and the stubbornness that defines her, and Carmilla can see in her borrowed face all the mixed up things she’s feeling. She bumps her shoulder into Laura’s and smiles softly.

“For what it’s worth, if I was still in that body, I would have acknowledged you then. She’s just grumpy, I’m sure she’ll get over it.” Carmilla feels strange supporting Laura and Danny’s relationship, but the truth is she _will_ get over it, and Laura needs to realise that.

There’s a snort from behind them. “Yeah, I can imagine that. The two of you making out over the corpse of a boy. Suits you, Carmilla.” LaFontaine is still grinning at the mental image as Perry hits them lightly on the arm.

Laura smiles at Carmilla’s still-concerned face and quietly reassures her that she’s fine.

 

They arrive at the frathouse and Danny has to ask where the room is. Carmilla takes over the lead and guides them to the door.

“Well, obviously this thing is curable, unless Kirsh was just having a _really_ bad day,” LaFontaine monologues, “so all we have to ask Kirsch is _how_ he cured it, right?”

 

They open the door (unlocked, as seems to be the norm at Silas) to find heavy curtains drawn and no lights on. Carmilla, without her usual night vision can barely make out a lump under the covers of the left side bed, the rope she tied cut and spooling on the floor, vague shapes of water bottles on the bedside table nearest the lump that must be Kirsch.

 

“Kirsch…?” Laura ventures, and the lump lets out a low groan.

 

“Owwww…sh’off th’ light.” Kirsch pulls his pillow over his eyes.

 

Carmilla snorts. “Will must have been in his body. It’s _very_ difficult for a vampire to get drunk.”

 

After Laura goading Kirsch into a sitting position (and finding herself much more persuasive in the body of a floor don) and Perry handing him one of the half-drunk water bottles at his bedside, he finally seems able to speak and understand things.

 

“What do you guys wannnt?” he mumbles, squinting at the gang of girls that have invaded his room.

 

“Okay, Kirsch? How did you get back into your own body?” LaFontaine ventures gently.

 

He rubs his eyes and sighs, “I was just like this when I woke up, I think it’s a temporary thing. Just lasts a day.”

 

“So you and Will didn’t do anything to reverse it?”

 

“Barely even saw the guy, he was out partying till way after I fell asleep… _tied to the bed_.” He narrows his eyes at Danny, obviously not fully understanding they were bodyswapped.

 

Danny raises her eyebrows at Carmilla. “Kinky.” Oh right, she’d neglected to tell that part of the story.

 

LaFontaine sighs, “Kind of anticlimactic. All we have to do is wake up tomorrow and we’ll be in our bodies again? I’d suggest experimenting with sleep schedules to get more info but I’ve kinda had enough of being tall, and even though I don’t always like my body much, at least it’s familiar.” They rub at their forehead and wince. Obviously their bruises are still sore.

 

“Guys…that was all you wanted right?” Kirsch questions, still seated on his bed, “Because, although I would generally love having a whole group of hotties in my room, I’m kind of seriously hung over and I’m probably going to chuck soon.” They get the message and evacuate, though not without Perry interrogating him to make sure he had everything he needed and even offering to escort him to the bathroom, which he declined, saying he knew how to deal with a hangover, he was a frat boy come _on_.

 

***

 

After an uneventful trip back, they find themselves once again at the door to Carmilla and Laura’s dorm, where everything seems to happen.

 

“Perry and I are gonna go now, if that’s cool.” LaFontaine says, holding Perry’s hand, “Unless you guys have more leads on how to kill the Light?”

 

The reminder that there were things more pressing than being in different bodies seems to weigh down everyone’s shoulders.

 

“I think this day’s been too crazy for us to get much more done,” Laura sighs, “But, Perry, since we change after I sleep what should I do with your…body?” Her pause seems to encapsulate all the weird that comes along with that sentence. But the fact that she can say it at all is a testament to Silas U and it’s wonders.

 

“Just…sleep in my room, I’ll stay with LaFontaine. You know where it is, right?” Perry’s face shows her struggle with admitting what has happened, Carmilla can practically hear her brain making excuses ( _just a dream, group hallucination_ ) but LaFontaine's hand in hers seems to calm her so she can at least _pretend_ to believe these things.

 

“Hell yeah I do, I woke up there. Staying in my own room…with a double bed.” Laura looks like she’s in heaven. Dorm life isn’t exactly stylish, and the perks that come with Perry’s job are enviable.

 

“Oh yeah, Danny. What should I do? I don’t even know where your dorm is, and I doubt you want me to take you back to-“

 

“Don’t worry about it LaFontaine!” Danny interrupts, “Just stay in your room, it’s fine I’m sure you guys sleep over a lot.” She pauses for a moment, and reddens, “Don’t – don’t _do_ anything with my body though, ok.”

 

Both Perry and LaFontaine turn bright red and start to stutter out denials and reassurances. “That never went through my mind!” LaFontaine squeaks, then Perry says “Well, goodbye.” Too loudly to pass as natural and they rush off.

“Well…I guess I should leave, if that’s ok with you, Carmilla.” Danny says, looking uncomfortable.

 

Carmilla sighs, and runs her hand through her (Laura’s) hair, “As much as I’d rather you just left, you do happen to be in the body of a vampire and I should probably monitor you. You’ll probably need to drink some blood soon, especially after beating up Will like you did.”

 

Danny makes a horrified face, and if she wasn’t in the body of a member of the walking dead, she would have paled. “I can’t do that . . . I just can’t.”

 

Carmilla sighs, “It’s donated blood, I don’t see the problem. But hey, go hungry for all I care, it just means you’re going to have to stay here and let me watch you.” Laura chooses that moment to sit down on her bed beside where Carmilla is standing with a brownie in one hand, having obviously forgotten Perry’s pleading from earlier in the day.

 

“So I guess we’re all just gonna stick around here then.” Not awkward at all.

 

Danny looks like she’s about to argue that she can control herself and all that shit, but instead sits down across from Laura with a huff of resignation. “I wanted to talk with you anyway.” Carmilla isn’t sure whether she’s talking to her or Laura…surely it would be Laura.

 

“I’ve been really stupid about this. I don’t think I’m the only one.” She narrows her eyes, then catches herself, “-but that’s not what I’m here to say. I need to accept that you’ve moved on, Laura. And, Carmilla, it was stupid to hate you just because of your relationship with Laura. I will argue that it isn’t stupid to hate you because you’re a vampire, but that’s not the point either. Laura, you have the right to choose who you want and I’m not going to get involved in that anymore. But people are dying and that is so much more important and I still want to help with that. So I guess what I’m saying is…I’ll help you fight the dean if you’ll have me.”

 

To Laura’s surprise, Carmilla speaks next, “Thank you, Danny. I apologise for the way I have behaved towards you as well." Danny says something about how much easier it is to believe that from Laura's mouth, but Carmilla opts to ignore her in favour of peace, "Laura, would you be okay with Danny returning to our little resistance team?” She turns to Laura, still a little thrown when Perry’s face looks back at her.

 

Laura smiles, and in that smile Carmilla can see the determination that she loves so much about her, “Absolutely, it’s great to have you back on board. Let’s get shit done.”

 

They spend the rest of the day with a very confused J.P., continuing the seemingly neverending search for some weapon that will actually work. Carmilla is surprised by how well the three of them work together, and finds herself reinspired to try her best when Danny pulls out her whiteboard and markers to make a brainstorming chart. When she makes hot chocolates in the evening, she finds a third mug for Danny, who smiles at her, making her think, maybe, she has found more than just Laura at Silas U. She thinks of the gang of them trekking across campus to find the frathouse, thinks of LaFontaine hitting their head on doorways and Perry admonishing Laura for her chocolate consumption and wonders if, just maybe, this year she’s made some friends. For the time being she forgets how dangerous such a thing is for someone like her and enjoys it. She laughs at a joke, and the sound is a mixture of Laura’s and her own, and she thinks she’s never heard anything so beautiful.

 

After she escorts Laura to Perry’s room, she returns to Danny wishing her goodnight in a way she never would have believed could be so civil last night, and comments on it.

 

“Well, I guess it’s true what they say about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes,” Danny yawns (they stayed up too late again, but the search didn’t seem so fruitless with good company), “you’re never going to be my best friend, but I can tolerate you, and Laura trusts you so I guess I’ll have to, for now.”

 

“Thanks, pup,” Carmilla quips, and she snorts. Carmilla sleeps well, and wakes up feeling more rested than she has in a long time, albeit thirsty enough to down a full glass of blood in 30 seconds. Laura jokes that she’s set a new record, and a new day starts, in as normal a way as in gets at Silas University.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos to Shauna, who's done an amazing job of organising this thing. 
> 
> And I hope you all have wonderful holidays!


End file.
